Inmates describe life in federal prison in the age of coronavirus

Inmates describe life in federal prison in the age of coronavirus

700 people work in federal prison facilities in terre haute.

The prison system is a city within a city.

Officers and inmates are close together... which is cause for concern as coronavirus can be easily spread.

That's why attorney general william barr ordered the "bureau of prisons" and the "department of justice" to increase "home confinement".

According to the bureau of prisons... more than 21-hundred inmates are positive for the virus -- right now -- nationwide.

Nearly 2-hundred "employees" have the virus.

79-inmates and 1-officer have died.

In terre haute... we learned of the first inmate case inside the federal prison on may 17th.

Days later..

The total was 3... a week after the first case was reported... another inmate tested positive before suffering a heart attack and dying.

Currently... the b-o-p is reporting 5-inmate cases.

News 10's heather good took a closer look at conditions inside terre haute prison facilities.

She has this investigative report.

Heather/intr} inmates in the federal prison system say they're enduring unnatural punishment as coronavirus ravages communities around the globe.

The virus is already behind these prison walls... and many inmates say they may suffer an sentence greater than the crime the committed.

Pk} "it's just going to spread around there like wildfire."

Terre haute is home to a federal prison.

It's perhaps best known for the many high profile prisoners -- like oklahoma city bomber timothy mcveigh and the charleston church shooter dylan roof -- who count down their last days on death row.

But the facility is actually much larger with a much more diverse inmate population.

There are two facilities here along prairieton road... the terre haute federal correctional complex (fcc terre haute) is a high security facility.

It houses more than 1,300 male inmates.

Next door is the federal correctional institution (fci terre haute).

It's a medium security prison and houses more than 1,200 male inmates.

Fci terre haute also includes a minimum security satellite camp.

"it's not fancy or anything.

It's prison.

I get that, you know, but when you have a highly contagious virus floating around, that's a disaster."

The distorted voice you're hearing is mike.

Nat pop of voice at least that's the name i gave him for the purposes of this story.

I confirmed mike is an inmate through the department of justice and bureau of prisons.

He's been released to home confinement and agreed to speak with me on the condition of anonymity.

He had been serving his time in the minimum security camp with other non-violent, white collar criminals.

"they weren't evil people... they just did things that were improper."

Mike and several other inmates say lives are in danger behind the barbwire and concrete.

A virus doesn't wait to go through security.

"it puts me right up in the top percentage of people that die from covid-19."

The terre haute prison facility is a care level three.

That means many of the inmates here suffer from serious, chronic conditions.

Inside the prison camp... mike says social distancing is not possible.

Inmates are close enough to reach out and touch on a regular basis.

Inmates are still being moved in and out of the facility.

Union leaders representing the officers working here raised concerns about that fact back in march.

At that time... they also said there were only four covid-19 test kits for nearly 3,000 inmates.

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Heather good, ridgeway, st devan ridgeway, heather good, news 10.

News 10 is working to learn more about "home confinement."

We have formally requested numbers from the b-o-p and the d-o-j... we'll share those with you when